We ♡ Midsummer Sound

My camper Amy liked everything about the music camp. As her favourite part of playing the violin has always been group lessons she voluntarily and with enthusiasm practiced her assigned piece before the camp started. She enjoyed her different teachers and loved playing in the final concert. She especially liked the new friends she made. The camp was flexible and could schedule my child’s private session at the beginning when it was my turn to car pool. We both enjoyed the lunches available on site – though for different reasons. In the end, I was sorry we hadn’t signed up for two weeks. And my camper wants to return next year!

Select your week(s), then mail your application and check to the following address

Summer musical study with Juilliard-trained faculty

Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. -William H. Murray

Co-Founder and Co-Director of Midsummer Sound, JANICE LAMARRE teaches violin, viola, and Music Theory classes at Midsummer Sound. She combines her experiences from her own studies with those from teaching Undergraduate and Graduate students at Juilliard, Yale, and the Manhattan School of Music. Janice also brings aspects of masterclasses she has attended at Prussia Cove in England, in Austria, Germany, and in Fontainebleau, France to the students at Midsummer Sound.

Piano Faculty MICHAEL BERKOVSKY graduated from Juilliard and John Hopkins’ Peabody Conservatory with a Doctorate in Piano Performance. He has won numerous international competitions, and his student has won the Canadian Music Competition, performing with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. Michael is a founding faculty member of Midsummer Sound, and returns to mentor Barrie students during the school year. He will teach a new piano jazz improv class this year, and we are very excited he is returning to teach in 2014.

Praised by the Winnipeg Free Press as a “dynamo pianist” with an “intense focus, virtuosic technique” and “poetic sensibility,” DR. SU JEON HIGUERA is a Toronto-based pianist and educator. The winner of the 2007 Eckhardt-Gramatté National Music Competition, Su has performed extensively in Canada and abroad, appearing in notable venues such as Lincoln Center, Chicago Cultural Centre, Philips Collection in Washington DC, Cambridge University in England and Teatro Jovellanos in Spain. Born in Korea and raised in Germany and Japan, Su holds her Bachelor’s and Master’s degree from The Juilliard School, her Artist Diploma from the The Glenn Gould School and her doctorate from l’Université de Montréal. Her principal teachers were Julian Martin, Marc Durand and Maneli Pirzadeh. .

NENA LAMARRE studied with Boris Berlin for many years, and is a fully-certified Suzuki teacher. She graduated from Western University, and has won national and international prizes in music. Nena’s students win competitions and honours each year in the Barrie Music Festival, and summer festivals including at Midsummer Sound. They have gone on to study music at University, and have returned to Midsummer Sound as Teaching Assistants and advanced performers. Nena’s beginner group piano classes are a highlight of Midsummer Sound, where she uses her decades of Summer Institute teaching experience to impart piano knowledge and skills in an exciting, fun, and creative way.

Cellist ANDREW ASCENZO is quickly becoming one of Toronto’s most eclectic and versatile young performers. He recently appeared as a soloist with the Brampton Concert Band performing the rarely heard Cello Concerto by Friederich Gulda, as well as a soloist with the York Symphony Orchestra performing Haydn’s C Major Cello Concerto. Andrew has attended the Banff Summer Music program and had the privilege to study with some of the great cello masters, including Aldo Parisot and Janos Starker. He is currently working towards completing his Doctorate of Musical Arts at the University of Toronto. Andrew has played guitar and drumset in several bands over the last ten years. As a drummer, he has performed as a pit orchestra musician with local theatres in productions of Gypsy, Bye Bye Birdie, Godspell, and West Side Story. Beyond music, Andrew is an avid fan of Baseball and Soccer.

New York-based violinist MORGANNE AABERG holds a masters degree in violin performance and Suzuki pedagogy from the Cleveland Institute of Music and a bachelors degree in violin performance from the Mannes College of Music. Ms. Aaberg cofounded the multimedia performance group Artists By Any Other Name in 2011, producing multimedia shows in venues such as the National Opera Center, the Metropolitan Opera Guild, and the Tenri Cultural Institute. Ms. Aaberg has appeared with the Urban Playground Chamber Orchestra, and frequently presents solo recitals featuring the violin/piano sonata repertoire in New York City, and her hometown of Honolulu, Hawaii. Her more unusual collaborations include appearing with bluegrass bands Cinder Blue and the Quincy Street Band, and live improvisation with Oregon-based poet Alex Weiss.

Ms. Aaberg joined the faculty of the Diller-Quaile School of Music in New York City in 2011. She has also held positions at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, the Sato Center for Suzuki Studies at the Cleveland Institute of Music, and at the Meadowmount School of Music.

JILL SHIPLEY has been singing as long as she can remember, and has been in choirs almost as long. She sang in the Queen’s Chorus with Rudolph Schnitzler while earning her B. Ed., and continued to do choral work as she earned her vocal music specialist. Throughout a 33 year teaching career, she put on countless musicals, directed many school choirs and founded a Shakespearean Festival at Codrington Public School.

Locally, Jill has sung with Bravado and Marmalade. Currently she sings with Floydd Ricketts in the King Edward Choir where she also serves as a board member. One of her musical highlights was singing with the Tenors at Gryphon Theatre. Jill is delighted to be a part of Midsummer Sound this year and is looking forward to making wonderful musical memories.

Apply Now for Summer Study

Once your application is complete, the faculty will place your child in a chamber music group, assign a private teacher, and place him or her in the appropriate classes based on level of playing and musical knowledge.